KIM OGG,

DISTRICT ATTORNEY

JOHN JORDAN,

ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY

HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS

Juvenile Diversions

Reduce the Footprint Expand Diversions

Paradigm Shift

Analysis of the Data

11,000 Referrals each of the last three years

8,000 Petitions filed each of the last three years

81% of Referrals are Misdemeanors

19% of Referrals are Felonies

Because of the number of Filings…

The overall docket sizes for the three Juvenile Courts: 313th District Court 1,543 Cases

314th District Court 1,631 Cases

315th District Court 1,677 Cases

First setting is about 6 weeks from being charged

The average number of court settings per case is 5, which is about 7-8 months after the incident

Who Gets Arrested

40% of all the cases filed originated from schools

78.6% of those Juveniles were minorities

25.2% of those Juveniles had Mental Health needs

2017 Breakdown of Disposed School Cases

52.4% of school cases receive either Deferred Prosecution or Deferred Adjudication Means they are low level crimes and/or First Offenders

21.2% of school cases were Non-Suited

< 1% of school cases were committed to TJJD

Partners in Reform

2018 DAO Meetings with ISD Superintendents & PDs

Juvenile Intake

Charging Decision

Analysis is different than with an adult offender

4 considerations for a juvenile referral

Probable cause

Nature of the misconduct

Individual factors

Possibility of a diversion program

Exception for certain serious offenses

Change in Criteria for charging a Youth

Steps to consider before Charging

Nature of the Misconduct

Individual Factors

ISD Police Departments

Principals and Counselors

Circling Back in Summer of 2019

2018-2019 Referral Data

10021

258

63

789

78118

191153

125

770

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Jot Totals

2018-2019 School YearAugust 2018-May 2019

JOTS Printed

Aldine ISD Alief ISD Cy-Fair ISD Goose Creek HISD ISD Humble ISD

Katy ISD Klein ISD Pasadena ISD Spring ISD Spring Branch ISD

Referrals Student Population

Comparison to Student Population

Aldine9%

Alief7%

Cy-Fair16%

Goose Creek

3%

HISD29%

Humble6%

Katy5%

Klein7%

Pasadena8%

Spring5%

Spring Branch

5%

POPULATION

Aldine Alief Cy-Fair Goose Creek

HISD Humble Katy Klein

Pasadena Spring Spring Branch

Aldine5%

Alief1%

Cy-Fair13%

Goose Creek

3%

HISD40%

Humble4%

Katy 6%

Klein10%

Pasadena8%

Spring 6%

Spring Branch

4%

2018-2019 SCHOOL YEARAUGUST 2018-MAY 2019

JOTS PRINTED

Aldine Alief Cy-Fair Goose Creek

HISD Humble Katy Klein

Pasadena Spring Spring Branch

Juvenile Arrest

Juvenile Arrest

Misbehaving in Schools

Divert

Juvenile Behavior vs. Criminal Conduct

Juvenile Behavior: Assaults between students

Class B terroristic threat

Criminal Trespass

Reckless Assaults on Public Servants

False Alarms

Criminal Conduct: Drugs

Weapons

Intentional Assaults on Public Servants

Sexual Assaults

School Threats

Ultimate Diversion

Fall 2018 vs. Fall 2019 Data

# of Referrals = # of Authorized Arrests

ISD total referrals decreased by 37.88 % Spring Branch 61.76%

Pasadena 50%

HISD 45.36%

Spring 43.24%

Aldine 40%

2019 Fall Semester Data

Of the 474 Referrals

47.68% were given Diversion

40.51% had a petition filed in court

11.81% were rejected upon further review

2019 Fall Semester Data

37.88% Decrease in Referrals (arrests)

62%Decrease in Filed Petitions in Court

D P 9 0 / 1 8 0

B A S E P R O G R A M

F I R S T P R O G R A M

J U V E N I L E M A R I J U A N A D I V E R S I O N

5 TH W A R D S C H O O L D I V E R S I O N

Expansion of Diversionary Programs

Authorized by Family Code

Review by Prosecutor

Allowed by Law

Deferred Prosecution Program

“P” Program is Pre-Petition

Established 2009

Class A & Class B – nonviolent misdemeanors

87% success rate

Expanded to include all misdemeanors nonviolent felonies

A Night we call Juvenile Consequences

BUILDING A PPROPRIATE SEXUAL EDUCATION

B.A.S.E. Program

B.A.S.E. Partnership

BASE Program Data

Since August, 2019

45 Youth have been referred to BASE

FAMILY INTERVENTION RESTORATIVE SERVICES

OF TEXAS

F.I.R.S.T. Program

F.I.R.S.T. Partners

F.I.R.S.T. Data

Since February 18, 2019

479 Youth have been referred to the Program

Only 104 Juvenile Petitions have been filed

SECTION 52.03 OF THE FAMILY COURT

D I S P O S I T I O N W I T H O U T R E F E R R A L T O C O U R T

Juvenile Marijuana Diversion

Marijuana Diversion Data

Since August 12, 2019

470 Youth have been referred to the Program

Juvenile Marijuana Diversion Partners

Authorized by Family Code

Approved by Juvenile Board

Allowed by Law

No AFIS No Booking Photo

No Processing

Officer will seize Cannabis Return Youth to Parents

No Juvenile Detention

Offer Diversion Schedule Class

Juvenile Probation has Revision call

Houston Council on Recovery Saturday Class

Help not Court

5th Ward Juvenile Justice Diversion

5th Ward Juvenile Justice Diversion Partners

Schools Involved

5th Ward Data

42 Youth are in the 5th Ward Program

28 of those Youth are under category Tier One

14 of these Youth are under category Tier Two

We are not done…